The two factions, one pro Iran and the other anti, have agreed to work together as a coalition, negotiators told Arab News on Tuesday.

The veteran Shiite politician and former vice president Adel Abdul Mahdi was informally nominated to replace Haider Al-Abadi, negotiators said.

He will be assigned on Sept. 25 to form a government if his nomination is approved by the Kurdish blocs.

Before the appointment of prime minister, the president has to be selected. There is no indication that the Kurds, who get the post according to the Iraq’s power sharing agreement, have decided on who to nominate.

Iraq’s parliament has been split between the Reform alliance and Al-Binna’a alliance after elections in May.

Iran-backed Al-Binna’a is led by Hadi Al-Amiri, the head of Badr organization, the most prominent Shiite armed faction.

At the first parliamentary session earlier this month, both coalitions claimed they have the most number of seats which would give them the right to form a government.

Within hours, violent demonstrations erupted in Basra, Iraq’s main oil hub, killing 15 demonstrators and injuring scores of people. The Iranian consulate was set on fire along with dozens of government and party buildings.

The violence on the street reflected the stand-off in parliament and threatened to erupt into fighting between the armed wings associated with the different Shiite groups.

The agreement between the two blocs was the only way to end the violence and prevent a slide into intra-Shiite fighting, senior leaders involved in the talks said.

Both parties’ desire for a truce seemed clear on Saturday at a parliament session to elect the speaker and his deputies. The two blocks showed their influence without colliding with each other. Al-Binna’a presented its candidate for the speaker post and stepped down after winning to make way for the Reform bloc to present its candidate for the post of first deputy of the speaker without competition.

The negotiations teams continued their meetings over the following days to agree on the details of the government program and select the nominee for the prime minister among the dozens of candidates presented by the forces belonging to the two alliances.

The first results of talks between the two blocs came out on Tuesday when Al-Amiri withdrew from the race “to open doors for more talks,” and avoid conflict between the alliances.

“We will not talk on behalf of Al-Binna’a or the Reform. We both will agree on a candidate. Compatibility is our only choice,” Al-Amiri, said at a press conference in Baghdad.

“Today, Iraq needs to be saved, as we saved it from Daesh, so we have only two options, either we choose to impose the wills and twist each others arms or choose the understanding between us.”

Iraq has been a battleground for regional and international powers, especially Iran and the United States, since 2003 US-led invasion.

Brett McGurk, the US envoy to Iraq and Syria, and General Qassim Soleimani, commander of Iran’s Al Quds Force, are deeply involved in the negotiations.

The candidate for prime minister should also enjoy the blessing of the religious powers in Najaf, represented by Grand Ayatollah Ali Al-Sistani, the Shiite spiritual leader and most revered figure in Iraq, negotiators said.

“One ‘no’ is enough to exclude any candidate. Not only that, Sadr and Amiri also have their conditions and we still have difficulty reconciling all of them.”

The marathon negotiations, which run every day until late at night, finally reached a shortlist for prime minister.

The three names reached were Adel Abdul Mahdi, a former leader of the Supreme Islamic Iraqi Council, Falih Al-Fayadh, the former national security adviser, and Mustafa Al-Kadhimi, the head of the intelligence service.

Adel Abdul Mahdi was the chosen one, three negotiators from different sides told Arab News.

Saudi Arabia is selecting finalists from five countries — the US, China, Russia, France and South Korea. (Shutterstock)

Faced with surging energy demand for economic growth, Saudi Arabia is turning to nuclear power to meet a twin challenge — how to diversify its electricity-generating mix while reducing reliance on fossil fuels.And with electricity demand in the country growing by 8 to 10 percent annually, compared with less than 1 percent in Europe, experts say the move is timely.

Last week, an International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) team of experts concluded a 12-day mission to the Kingdom to review its development of infrastructure for a nuclear power program. The review, which ended on July 24, was carried out at the invitation of the Saudi government. “Nuclear is an important way to meet the fast-growing demand for energy in the region, taking into consideration a wish to diversify the energy sources and not rely solely on oil and gas,” said John Bernhard, former Danish ambassador to the IAEA.

“Besides, the use of nuclear power is a significant element in an energy strategy which considers the need to reduce carbon dioxide emissions and implement commitments concerning climate change. Renewable energy sources, such as wind and solar, are beneficial from a climate change point of view, but will often not be sufficient to cover large energy demands.”The Kingdom plans to build two large nuclear power reactors as part of a program delivering as many as 16 nuclear power plants over the next 20 to 25 years at a cost of more than $80 billion. It has projected 17 gigawatts (GW) of nuclear capacity by 2032 to provide 15 percent of the power then, along with more than 40 GW of solar capacity.

So far, Saudi Arabia has identified two possible sites for power stations, on the Gulf coast at Umm Huwayd and Khor Duweihin.
Plans for small reactors for desalination are also well advanced. “IAEA missions are of crucial importance when preparing for the introduction of nuclear power programs, especially in so-called newcomer states — those with little or no experience regarding nuclear power,” Bernhard said.

“IAEA experts can provide useful advice technically and with regard to nuclear safety and security.
This is of great value both for the nuclear newcomer and the international community.”cSaudi Arabia is selecting finalists from five countries — the US, China, Russia, France and South Korea —that it invited earlier this year to bid on a project to build the two plants. The selection of a winning bid and the signing of contracts are expected by the end of 2018.

Nuclear is a carbon-free techno-logy that provides continuous generation. “Even if a country is investing heavily in renewables, they have the problem of only being available when the sun shines and the wind blows,” said Judge, who is a member of the International Advisory Board for the development of nuclear energy in the UAE.

“Accordingly, back-up generation is needed to assure a continuous supply of energy. To me, it seems the Saudis, like Abu Dhabi, are perfectly situated to build a new nuclear power plant — they have the backing of the government and the funds to build a first-class plant, and they understand that it is inappropriate today to rely solely on oil.
“They also have the resources to bring in international experts and to conduct an effective public outreach program to educate the population about the benefits of nuclear energy.”

Judge said that IAEA missions provide an assurance that the construction, operation and safety culture will be of the highest standard. “The IAEA is an independent appraiser and adviser, and it helps countries to appropriately plan and design their new project.”
The move falls in line with the Kingdom’s Vision 2030, which is based on diversifying its economy away from oil and gas. And with desalination and residential cooling set as the two largest uses of power, and desalinated water demand expected to double in the next decade, experts say that it is more profitable for the country to sell oil and gas while using alternative resources, such as nuclear, for water desalination.
Environmentally, nuclear is also expected to significantly reduce carbon dioxide emissions.
“Saudi Arabia has to find ways to diversify and increase its power production capacity for economic growth and development,” said Dr. Peter Bode, former associate professor in nuclear science and technology at the Delft University in the Netherlands.
“Nuclear power is one of the options in the power mix that could also contain wind energy and solar, but these systems cannot take over the major role in the power mix. Moreover, these are also somehow much more vulnerable to damage, like sabotage, and even the effects of climate change.”
He said nuclear power is a proven technology with high reliability and safety — a nuclear power plant typically operates for about 60 to 70 years, and provides jobs for about 1,000 people over that period. “Wind and solar energy are options for local and domestic energy production, but not to provide the needs of industry.”

In 2010, a Saudi royal decree said that the development of atomic energy is essential to meet the Kingdom’s growing requirements for energy. The country formed the King Abdullah City for Atomic and Renewable Energy (KA-CARE).

In July last year, the Cabinet approved the establishment of the National Project for Atomic Energy, and new financial and administrative regulations for KA-CARE, which was set up in Riyadh.
Several years ago, a study by the IAEA explored the economics of nuclear power in the Middle East.

“As long as the future international oil market price was above $60 to $65 per barrel, nuclear power made sense,” said Holger Rogner, an Atomic Reporters director, energy economist and former head of the IAEA’s energy planning section.

“The domestic price of oil used for electricity generation and desalination is highly subsidized, so if they replace electricity generation with nuclear power, and sell this oil at market prices abroad, the difference in revenue would basically pay for the nuclear power plant. There are clear thresholds when things make sense,” he said.

At least 400 sea turtles have died, washing up on the coastal shore or being pulled from the waters. On Tuesday, a manatee that had likely died due to red tide poisoning was picked up outside a yacht club in Cape Coral, Florida, according to a report from USA Today. The tide has been cutting off the oxygen supply to underwater sea life, causing suffocation.

The red tide is a normal occurrence in the Gulf of Mexico, according to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. But it can be transported to different waterways through wind, currents and water temperature.

The toxic tide has been lingering off the coast since November and while it’s usually broken up by cold fronts, marine experts say this batch of red algae could last into 2019. The algae bloom stretches about 100 miles from Sarasota to Collier, Florida. It’s littering beachy shores with dead fish, turtles and other underwater creatures.

Veterinarian Dr. Heather Barron, from the Clinic for the Rehabilitation of Wildlife, checks the health of a kemp’s ridley sea turtle that was found washed ashore after becoming sick in the red tide on August 1, 2018 in Sanibel, Florida. Dr. Barron said, ‘this year’s red tide is absolutely the worst she has seen for adult sea turtles,’ as they rehabilitate some of the turtles being found needing help. Joe Raedle/Getty Images

The red tide adds to the colorful misery Floridians are already experiencing with blue green algae. The algae, created by a film of cyanobacteria, appeared when the summer kicked off and temperatures began to rise. It’s always a staple of Florida’s Lake Okeechobee, but this year the bacteria also made its way into rivers and canals.

The algae emits an odor that can make people sick. More than a dozen people have been to local emergency rooms after being in contact with the contaminated water, according to an NBC News report.

Governor Rick Scott said on Friday that more action needs to be taken when it comes to alleviating some of the problems caused by the red tide and green blue algae. The governor ordered the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission and the Florida Department of Environmental Protection to “mobilize all available resources,” according to the Orlando Sentinel.

Bill Nelson, a Florida Senator, put out a statement about the contaminated waters on Friday. In a letter posted on his website and tweeted out on Twitter, Nelson said that while they are doing everything they can to address health and ecological concerns “it’s important to realize that there is no quick fix to this problem. There is no magical solution that will make this algae go away overnight.”

These toxic algae blooms are making people sick, killing our wildlife and hurting our economy. We need our state leaders to change course. We need them to start taking steps to keep our waterways clean – instead of allowing them to become more polluted. https://t.co/qX5lGBavzcpic.twitter.com/TPEJCLF6nO

A review of unplanned shutdowns from January 2012 to the present showed this year’s events happened within a short time frame, between May 7 and July 8, in contrast with events from other years that were more spread out, according to data released by Indian Point.

If a nuclear plant has more than three unplanned shutdowns in a nine-month period, its performance indicator could be changed by the federal Nuclear Regulatory Commission, which results in additional oversight. That’s what happened with Entergy’s Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station in Plymouth, Mass., after four unplanned shutdowns in 2013.

So far, Entergy said there doesn’t appear to be a pattern to the Indian Point shutdowns.

“You do want to look at these events holistically to see if there is something in common, but you also look individually to see what the causes were,” Nappi said. “A plant shutdown in and of itself is not a safety issue.”

The NRC is expected to release a quarterly report on Indian Point this month that will address the transformer failure and, by year’s end, is planning an inspection of the transformer and an analysis of transformer issues since 2007.

Besides its transformer-related inquiries, the other three shutdowns have not raised “any immediate safety concerns or crossed any thresholds that would result in additional NRC oversight,” agency spokesman Neil Sheehan wrote in an email.

The unplanned shutdowns at Indian Point and Pilgrim in Massachusetts were mostly preventable, said Paul Blanch, a former Indian Point employee with 45 years of nuclear power experience.

“For this to happen this frequently indicates a deeper problem,” he said. “I believe it’s management oversight in the maintenance of these plants.”

Nappi said the transformer that failed May 9 and caused a fire and oil spill into the Hudson was regularly monitored. Investigators determined the failure was due to faulty insulation.

“The transformer inspection and reviews were in accordance with our standards and industry expectations, yet there was no indication the transformer was going to fail,” Nappi said.

The NRC conducted a separate, but related special inspection into the May 9 incident that focused on a half-inch of water that collected in an electrical switchgear room floor. Inspectors determined a fire suppression system’s valve failed to close properly.

Inspectors noted in their report that Entergy knew about that problem since April 2011 and replaced the valve but didn’t discover the actual cause — a dysfunctional switch — until after the fire.

The nuclear energy industry judges a power plant on how continuously it produces energy, which is called a capacity factor.

There were 100 nuclear plants in the United States in 2014, a record year in terms of efficiency. In January, the Nuclear Energy Institute announced the U.S. average capacity factor was 91.9 percent.

Indian Point has an above-average efficiency rate. The plant’s Unit 2 and 3 reactors were each online more than 99 percent of the time during their most recent two-year operating cycles. They are currently in the middle of other cycles.

His formal religious standing within the Shi’i clerical hierarchy is comparatively mid-ranking. As a result of this, in 2008 al-Sadr claimed for himself neither the title of mujtahid (the equivalent of a senior religious scholar) nor the authority to issue any fatwas.[5] In early 2008, he was reported to be studying to be an ayatollah, something that would greatly improve his religious standing.[6]

Muqtada al-Sadr is Iraqi, His great-grandfather is Ismail as-Sadr. Mohammed Sadeq al-Sadr, Muqtada al-Sadr’s father, was a respected figure throughout the Shi’a Islamic world. He was murdered, along with two of his sons, allegedly by the government of Saddam Hussein. Muqtada’s father-in-law was executed by the Iraqi authorities in 1980. Muqtada is a cousin of the disappeared Musa al-Sadr, the Iranian-Lebanese founder of the popular Amal Movement.[9]

In 1994, al-Sadr married one of Muhammad Baqir al-Sadr’s daughters.[10] He has no children.[10]

Positions

Muqtada al-Sadr gained popularity in Iraq following the toppling of the Saddam government by the 2003 invasion of Iraq.[11] Al-Sadr has on occasion stated that he wishes to create an “Islamic democracy“.

Al-Sadr commands strong support (especially in the Sadr City district in Baghdad, formerly named Saddam City but renamed after the elder al-Sadr). After the fall of the Saddam government in 2003, Muqtada al-Sadr organized thousands of his supporters into a political movement, which includes a military wing known as the Jaysh al-Mahdi or Mahdi Army).[12] The name refers to the Mahdi, a long-since disappeared Imam who is believed by Shi’a Muslims to be due to reappear when the end of time approaches. This group periodically engaged in violent conflict with the United States and other Coalition forces, while the larger Sadrist movement has formed its own religious courts, and organized social services, law enforcement, and prisons in areas under its control.[13] Western media often referred to Muqtada al-Sadr as an “anti-American” or “radical” cleric.[14]

His strongest support came from the class of dispossessed Shi’a, like in the Sadr City area of Baghdad. Many Iraqi supporters see in him a symbol of resistance to foreign occupation.[15] The Mahdi army allegedly operated deaths squads during the Iraq civil war.[13]

In a statement received by AFP on 15 February 2014, Sadr announced the closure of all offices, centers and associations affiliated with Al-Shaheed Al-Sadr, his father, inside and outside Iraq, and announced his non-intervention in all political affairs, adding that no bloc will represent the movement inside or outside the government or parliament.[16] Several times he has called for all paramilitary groups recognised by the Iraqi state to be dissolved after the complete defeat of ISIL and that all foreign forces (including Iran) then leave Iraqi territory. He surprised many when he visited the crown princes of both Saudi Arabia, for the first time in 11 years,[17] and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) in 2017 and earlier and was criticized in some Iranian circles.[7] In April 2017, he distinguished himself from other Iraqi Shiite leaders in calling on Iranian-backed Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to step down and save the country from more bloodshed.[8] Al-Sadr’s efforts to strengthen relations between Saudi Arabia and Iraq mirror those of Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi.[17]

In May 2003, al-Sadr issued a fatwa that became known as the al-Hawasim (meaning the finalists – a term used to refer to the looters of post-invasion Iraq) fatwa.[19] The fatwa allowed theft and racketeering on the condition that the perpetrators pay the requisite khums to Sadrist imams,[20] saying that “looters could hold on to what they had appropriated so long as they made a donation (khums) of one-fifth of its value to their local Sadrist office.” The fatwa alienated many older members of his father’s movement,[20] as well as mainstream Shiites,[21] and the Shia establishment and property-owning classes from the Sadrists.[19] However, the fatwa strengthened his popularity among the poorest members of society, notably in Sadr City.[22] It has been claimed that the original fatwa was actually issued by al-Sadr’s advisor Grand Ayatollah Kazem Husseini Haeri, and that al-Sadr was simply loyally issuing the same instruction.[19]

In his 2004 sermons and public interviews, al-Sadr repeatedly demanded an immediate withdrawal of all U.S.-led coalition forces, all foreign troops under United Nations control, and the establishment of a new central Iraqi government, not connected to the Ba’ath party or the Allawi government.

In late March 2004, Coalition authorities (759th MP Battalion) in Iraq shut down Sadr’s newspaper al-Hawza on charges of inciting violence. Sadr’s followers held demonstrations protesting the closure of the newspaper. On 4 April, fighting broke out in Najaf, Sadr City, and Basra. Sadr’s Mahdi Army took over several points and attacked coalition soldiers, killing dozens of foreign soldiers, and taking many casualties of their own in the process.[23] At the same time, Sunni rebels in the cities of Baghdad, Samarra, Ramadi, and, most notably, Fallujah, staged uprisings as well, causing the most serious challenge to coalition control of Iraq up to that time.

During the first siege of Fallujah in late March and April 2004, Muqtada’s Sadrists sent aid convoys to the besieged Sunnis there.[24]

Paul Bremer, then the US administrator in Iraq, declared on 5 April 2004 that al-Sadr was an outlaw and that uprisings by his followers would not be tolerated.[25]

That day, al-Sadr called for a jihad against coalition forces. To do this he needed to gain temporary control of Al Kut, An Najaf and the suburb of Baghdad named after his grandfather, Sadr City. On the night of 8 April, his Mahdi Army dropped eight overspans and bridges around the Convoy Support Center Scania, thus severing northbound traffic into Baghdad.[citation needed] The next day, Good Friday, his militia ambushed any and every convoy trying to get in or out of Baghdad International Airport, known to the soldiers as BIAP. This led to the worst convoy ambush of the war, the ambush of the 724th Transportation Company (POL), which resulted in eight KBR drivers killed and three soldiers killed. One was Matt Maupin who was initially listed as the first American soldier missing in action. These series of attacks demonstrated an unexpected level of sophistication in planning. While the Mahdi Army knew they were no match for M1 Abrams tanks, they recognized a vulnerability, attacking the trucks that supplied the tanks. BIAP was where the newly arrived 1st Cavalry Division drew its supplies. The 1st Cavalry Division was replacing the 1st Armored Division in and around Baghdad. The 1st Armored Division had already been deployed to Iraq for a year. CENTCOM commander, General John Abizaid, decided to extend the Division beyond its 1-year deployment, for an additional 120 days, to use in the fight against the Mahdi Army.[26][27] On Easter Sunday, 11 April, the Mahdi Army launched an attack on the southwest wall at BIAP behind which several hundred trucks parked. A small force of less than a dozen truck drivers led by 2LT James McCormick held off the enemy for nearly 45 minutes. 30 Minutes after this fight, McCormick and his crew of the Humvee gun truck Zebra had to escort a convoy through a gauntlet of ambushes eight miles to the Green Zone. They divided the convoy into four serials and the Mahdi Army ambushed the first one. McCormick then changed his tactics for the second convoy serial to turn into the enemy and return fire. This inflicted casualties among the militiamen and by the third convoy serial the enemy fire had slackened and the last convoy serial was not molested. He would refine this “turn, fix and fire” tactic when he helped form the 518th Combat Gun Truck Company. Desperate for fuel, tanks and Strykers were pulled to escort fuel convoys north from Scania. By the end of April, the 1st Armored Division had broken the back of al Sadr’s Uprising[26][27] but he had achieved his goal of becoming a significant force for the coalition forces to deal with.[28]

It is generally frowned upon in Iraq for clerics to actively participate in secular politics, and like the other leading religious figures, Muqtada al-Sadr did not run in the 2005 Iraqi elections. It is believed he implicitly backed the National Independent Cadres and Elites party that was closely linked with the Mahdi Army. Many of his supporters, however, backed the far more popular United Iraqi Alliance (UIA) of al-Sistani.

On 26 August 2005, an estimated 100,000 Iraqis marched in support of al-Sadr and his ideals.[29]

On 25 March 2006, Muqtada al-Sadr was in his home and escaped a mortar attack; this attack was disputed, as the ordnance landed more than 50 meters from his home.

Sadr’s considerable leverage was apparent early in the week of 16 October 2006, when Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki ordered the release of one of Sadr’s senior aides. The aide had been arrested a day earlier by American troops on suspicion of participating in kidnappings and killings.[30]

On 13 February, several sources in the US government claimed that Muqtada al-Sadr had left Iraq and fled to Iran in anticipation of the coming security crackdown.[31] US military spokesman Maj. Gen. William B. Caldwell reinforced this account on 14 February,[32] but a member of Iraq’s parliament and an aide to al-Sadr have denied the claims.[31][33]

On 30 March it was reported that al-Sadr, through clerics speaking on his behalf, “delivered a searing speech … condemning the American presence in Iraq … [and] call[ing] for an anti-occupation mass protest on April 9….”[34] This call to protest was significant in that, since the beginning of the American troop surge (which began on 14 February 2007), al-Sadr had ordered his “militia to lie low during the new Baghdad security plan so as not to provoke a direct confrontation with the Americans”.[34]

In a statement stamped with al-Sadr’s official seal and distributed in the Shiite holy city of Najaf a day before the demonstration, on Sunday, 8 April 2007, Muqtada al-Sadr urged the Iraqi army and police to stop cooperating with the United States and told his guerilla fighters to concentrate on pushing American forces out of the country. “You, the Iraqi army and police forces, don’t walk alongside the occupiers, because they are your arch-enemy,” the statement said.

On 17 April 2007, several ministers loyal to al-Sadr left the Iraqi government. Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki stated that the withdrawal of these ministers had not weakened his government and that he would name technocrats to replace them soon.[35]

On 25 April 2007, al-Sadr condemned the construction of Azamiyah wall around a Sunni neighbourhood in Baghdad, by calling for demonstrations against the plan as a sign of “the evil will” of American “occupiers”

On 25 May 2007, al-Sadr delivered a sermon to an estimated 6,000 followers in Kufa. Sadr reiterated his condemnation of the United States’ occupation of Iraq and demanded the withdrawal of foreign forces, al-Sadr’s speech also contained calls for unity between Sunni and Shi’a.[36] In June 2007, al-Sadr vowed to go ahead with a planned march to the devastated Askariyya shrine in central Iraq, al-Sadr said the march was aimed at bringing Shi’is and Sunnis closer together and breaking down the barriers imposed by the Americans and Sunni religious extremists.

In a statement issued 29 August 2007, Muqtada al-Sadr announced that an order to stand down for six months had been distributed to his loyalists following the deaths of more than 50 Shia Muslim pilgrims during fighting in Karbala the day before. The statement issued by Sadr’s office in Najaf said: “I direct the Mahdi army to suspend all its activities for six months until it is restructured in a way that helps honour the principles for which it is formed.” The intention behind the ceasefire was thought in part to be to allow al-Sadr reassert control over the movement, which is thought to have splintered. “We call on all Sadrists to observe self-restraint, to help security forces control the situation and arrest the perpetrators and sedition mongers, and urge them to end all forms of armament in the sacred city,” said the statement, referring to the 28 August clashes in Karbala. Asked if the unexpected order meant no attacks on American troops, as well as a ban on Shia infighting, a senior al-Sadr aide said: “All kinds of armed actions are to be frozen, without exception.”[37]

In March 2008, during the Battle of Basra, the Sadr Movement launched a nationwide civil disobedience campaign across Iraq to protest raids and detentions against the Mahdi Army.[38]

In August 2008, al-Sadr ordered most of his militiamen to disarm but said he will maintain elite fighting units to resist the Americans if a timetable for the withdrawal of US troops is not established. “Weapons are to be exclusively in the hands of one group, the resistance group,” while another group called Momahidoun is to focus on social, religious and community work, Sadrist cleric Mudhafar al-Moussawi said.[39]

In response to Israeliattacks on Gaza, al-Sadr called for reprisals against US troops in Iraq: “I call upon the honest Iraqi resistance to carry out revenge operations against the great accomplice of the Zionist enemy.”

On 1 May 2009, al-Sadr paid a surprise visit to Ankara where, in his first public appearance for two years, he met with Turkish PresidentAbdullah Gül and Prime MinisterRecep Tayyip Erdoğan for talks that focused on the “political process”[40] and requested Turkey play a greater role in establishing stability in the Middle East. Spokesman Sheikh Salah al-Obeidi confirmed the nature of the talks that had been requested by al-Sadr and stated, “Turkey is a good, old friend. Trusting that, we had no hesitation in travelling here.”[41] After the meeting al-Sadr visited supporters in Istanbul, where al-Obeidi says they may open a representative office.

In a press conference on 6 March 2010, ahead of the 2010 Iraqi parliamentary election, Muqtada al-Sadr called on all Iraqis to participate in the election and support those who seek to expel US troops out of the country. Al-Sadr warned that any interference by the United States will be unacceptable.[42][43]

On 5 January 2011, Muqtada al-Sadr returned to the Iraqi city of Najaf, in order to take a more proactive and visible role in the new Iraqi government.[44] Three days later, thousands of Iraqis turned out in Najaf to hear his first speech since his return, in which he called the US, Israel, and the UK “common enemies” against Iraq. His speech was greeted by the crowd chanting “Yes, yes for Muqtada! Yes, yes for the leader!” while waving Iraqi flags and al-Sadr’s pictures. Subsequently, he returned to Iran to continue his studies.[45]

By late 2011, it appeared that the United States would largely withdraw from Iraq, a demand that helped make Sadr a popular leader amongst supporters almost immediately following the invasion. Sadr also controlled the largest bloc of parliament, and had reached a sort of détente with prime minister Nouri al Maliki, who needed Sadrist support to retain his post.[46]

Following the US withdrawal from Iraq, al-Sadr continued to be an influential figure in Iraqi politics, associated with the Al-Ahrar bloc, whose Shi’a factions are still at war with not only the government but also the Sunni factions.[47] However, whereas during the war al-Sadr was known for advocating violence, in 2012 he began to present himself as a proponent of moderation and tolerance and called for peace.[48][49]

In February 2014, al-Sadr announced that he was withdrawing from politics and dissolving the party structure to protect his family’s reputation.[50]

However, later in 2014, he called for the formation of “Peace Companies“, often mistranslated “Peace Brigades”, to protect Shia shrines from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant.[50] In June, these Peace Companies marched in Sadr City.[51] In addition to guarding shrines, the Peace Companies participated in offensive operations such as the recapture of Jurf Al Nasr in October 2014.[52] They suspended their activities temporarily in February 2015,[52] but were active in the Second Battle of Tikrit in March.[53]

Sadr is considered a populist by Western observers.[54][55] In 2015 he entered into an alliance with the Iraqi Communist Party and other secular groups “under an umbrella of security and corruption concerns”, both long-standing issues of daily life in the country.[56]

On 26 February 2016, Sadr led a million man demonstration in Baghdad’s Tahrir Square to protest corruption in Iraq and the government’s failure to deliver on reforms. “Abadi must carry out grassroots reform,” Sadr said in front of the protesters. “Raise your voice and shout so the corrupt get scared of you,” he encouraged the people.[58] On the 18th of March, Sadr’s followers began a sit-in outside the Green Zone, a heavily fortified district in Baghdad housing government offices and embassies. He called the Green Zone “a bastion of support for corruption”.[59] On 27 March, he himself walked into the Green Zone to begin a sit-in, urging followers to stay outside and remain peaceful. The Iraqi Army general in charge of security at the Green Zone kissed Sadr’s hand as he allowed him to enter.[60][not in citation given] He met with Abadi on 26 December to discuss the reform project he proposed during protests early in the year.[61] Following the Khan Shaykhun chemical attack in Syria on 4 April 2017, Sadr called for Syrian presidentBashar al-Assad to step down.[62][63] In July 2017, Sadr visited Saudi Arabia and met Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman.[64]

In April 2018, Sadr wrote: “I am ready to intervene between the Islamic Republic (Iran) and Kingdom Saudi Arabia to resolve some issues, even gradually, and that is for nothing but the best of Iraq and the region.”[65]

In May 2018, al-Sadr’s Sairoon electoral list won 54 seats in the first Iraqi parliamentary election since the Islamic State was declared defeated in Iraq.[66][67] He rejected U.S. interference in the formation of the new Iraqi government, saying: “The U.S. is an invader country; we do not allow it to interfere” in Iraqi affairs.[68]

“Pakistan is the most dangerous country in the world — not this year, not next year, but certainly down the road,” says Michael Morell, former acting CIA director.

The big picture: Pakistan has the world’s 5th largest population, 5th largest military and 6th largest nuclear arsenal. The danger begins, Morell says, with a dysfunctional economy and a rapidly growing population of young people without education or job prospects. Add to that a military that continues to call the shots as though war could break out at any moment.

• “One of the areas in which this plays out is in Pakistan’s support to jihadists — in short, its support to terrorists fighting India. That support bleeds over to extremists who want to overthrow the Pakistani state itself, including al-Qaeda and the Pakistani Taliban.”